About Miki Dedijer

I’m Miki Dedijer. I’ve been mentoring and coaching dads on becoming more present with their children since 2013.

My specialty is helping dads create the space and time in their lives to be more available to their children.

This involves establishing habits of self-care, finding clarity on how to live passionately, co-creating a nurturing and supportive community around your family, and guiding your children with tools that build resilience.

With these practices, my clients become more present at home: finding greater peace and relaxation in their lives, enjoying a deeper sense of belonging to community, and having more fun and deeper connection with their children,

How I’m Different

I prioritize ethics/principles/values and role modelling over parenting styles or techniques, knowing that who we are as fathers is more important than what we say.

My passion is that every child matures with a deep sense of belonging. As a father, you have a unique and powerful role in making this come true. This is why I focus on supporting you in knowing your inner and outer landscape, so you can become more present with your child.

Who I have become along my life’s journey is fundamentally what I offer as a coach. For some perspectives on this, you may prefer to hear from some of the wonderful people I’ve learned from and worked with over the past decade.

Deep connection to nature is central to what I offer. I’ve been an avid student of nature since childhood, and among other experiences hold a degree in Evolution, Ecology and Behavior from Princeton University.

My coaching is grounded in a daily immersion in farm life and tending the wild. Clients find support in my nature-based system, that is inspired by a life-long fascination with the metaphors and teachings of nature, and by my friend and colleague Christopher Kuntszch.

Spiritual Tempering

Before I found clarity on what path I’m walking, I was deeply frustrated with an abiding sense of being lost and rudderless.

I felt my life was one failure after another–a failure to become wealthy, a failure to belong, a failure to become a writer, a failure to become a biologist, a failure to be a loving and faithful partner, and a failure to own my own home.

And every step I had to peel another layer from my heart, letting go of the idea of who I was supposed to be. I travelled the world as an international reporter and documentary filmmaker, but my heart wasn’t in it. I tried as hard as I could to stay on top of things, but I failed at that too.

Within a few years, I lost all my money. My sister then a few years later my father died. I couldn’t sleep more than a few hours at a time. And one day I simply couldn’t go on working seven days a week anymore. My body and spirit flat out refused. I was burned out.

I spent a year on sick-leave. I slept 16-hour days for months on end. I received patient guidance from compassionate elders. I started a seven year journey with therapy. I hiked a whole lot on my own.

Reintegration

And one day, to my delight, my love of life returned.

I rediscoved my childhood fascination with nature, where I always felt safe, welcomed, at home. I spent the next few years deeply immersed in the woods. I honed my wilderness skills with the Swedish Survival Guild.

I trained over many years one-on-one with my friend and mentor Jon Young, master tracker and storyteller, and founder of 8shields.org. For two years I also got dedicated guidance in facilitating community from Mark Morey at the Institute for Natural Learning.

I began working with children. I mentored teens and ran summer camps for inner-city kids. I co-facilitated the Art of Mentoring, and ran programs for families with small children. I taught leaders of outdoor kindergardens, initiated teenage boys, and ran wilderness programs. And I offered Year of the Fox, a yearlong workshop in nature immersion for adults.

Growing Community

When I look at my life today I’m surprised where I find myself. I now live with my wife and two boys as the custodian of an 80-acre farm on the west coast of Sweden. We tend the land as part of the ecosystem, learning every day how we fit in and what is asked of us to leave this place better than we found it.

Our community is slowly growing. My boys attend a local Waldorf School and deepen their friendships in a father-son group I founded. Together we learn about our place in nature, and what it means for us fathers to pass on a nourishing legacy to our sons.

I volunteer with the Mankind Project, initiating men into a broader understanding of adult masculinity. Every month, I meet with Män i Väst, a local men’s group I co-founded to provide support for men who want to live more consciously. Our process includes Shadow Work, which I have trained in as a basic facilitator.

I also staff trainings with Celebration of Being, to contribute to healing the wounds and rifts between the masculine and the feminine.

It is from this place in my life that I coach fathers in becoming more present with their children. This is my calling–to support you with all my ability in realizing your dreams for yourself as a dad, and overcoming the obstacles you face along the way.

Let’s Connect

If you are interested in hiring me as your coach, learn more about coaching with me, and fill out the form to schedule a free private 1-1 discovery session with me.

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About Me

Your emotional health has a huge impact on your child. If you could use some gentle guidance to move from toil to grace, I'm here to support you. I'm the father of two boys. Based on a farm in Sweden, I've founded men's groups, father and son groups, and I'm a regular contributor to the Mankind Project. If you'd like more play, ease, and enjoyment in your life–I'm hoping you'll find a good start here.More About Me

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Plan B is softer, more loving, doesn’t smell of onions. It has nicer parents, better health, and always agrees with the values you want to share with your child. Plan B doesn’t age.

It is the other life you dream of when this one seems unbearably mundane, ordinary or average.

You call on Plan B by whispering to yourself ‘if only…’, or ‘I want more…’ or ‘that’s it…’

Whenever you’re cradling Plan B, you’re not present to your relationship. You have one foot in, and one foot out the door running towards a mirage. A part of you is absent.

Are you ready to share your secret, and tell your partner about Plan B?

How sometimes you imagine living on your own again. How you worry sitting by the bedside of your sleeping child, that you might not be up to the task of parenting. Or that you long to rekindle a tenderness that used to be there but now seems atrophied somehow.

For as long as it lasts, true comittment doesn’t house a secret lover. ... See MoreSee Less

When you meet him there, and allow yourself to be moved by his vibration, you join in his adventure. If you do, you likely rediscover a side of yourself that has lain dormant for a long time, maybe years. ... See MoreSee Less

He knows the meaning of your hunched shoulders, the sound of your hurried heels on the floorboards, the slowly spreading smile before you get playful.

Your body language says more than your words. The tone of your voice says more about your feelings than the adjectives you speak. The younger your child, the more he responds to your expression, your tone or tension rather than the words you choose.

A little more awareness of how you carry yourself, goes a long way towards carrying your child with greater awareness too. ... See MoreSee Less